VollyPages launches directory for emergency services employers
Recently launched online volunteer emergency service business directory VollyPages aims to recognise and support the
unsung heroes of the emergency services sector – the businesses that allow employees to drop everything and run when
their pager goes off.
VollyPages is an online directory of businesses that employ volunteer emergency service workers, aimed at building
support within the network and helping to offset the hidden cost of employee absenteeism on call outs.
Director Paul Robinson is a volunteer fire fighter at Kirwee Volunteer Fire Brigade. Previously he spent five years
volunteering for LandSAR in Nelson. He and his wife Sue have set up the directory to recognise and support businesses
employing emergency service volunteers.
“There’s around 50,000 volunteers working in the emergency services sector in New Zealand – from the NZ Fire and Rural
Fire services, St John’s Ambulance and Search and Rescue to Red Cross and Coastguard services,” says Paul. “In 2013,
9000 LandSAR volunteers donated 14,357 hours to rescue operations and spent 65,358 hours training for rescue operations.
“That’s a lot of time away from the desk or the workshop, and the businesses that employ these volunteers get no
compensation apart from knowing that their staff member is out there potentially saving someone’s life.”
Paul says that the hidden cost to businesses can at times add to financial pressures, and he would like to see
volunteers from all emergency services providers band together to support the businesses that support the work they do.
“Volunteers, organisations, friends, families and the public can use VollyPages to find business services and products,
knowing that the listed businesses employ volunteers. It’s a way of giving back to those businesses and recognising the
cost they bear.”
VollyPages will offer those businesses a chance to grow their networks, encourage business-to-business trade within the
sector and give them some public recognition.
VollyPages has the support of the New Zealand Firefighters Welfare Society, LandSAR and SARINZ. Tony Wells, Acting
General Manager of Search and Rescue Institute New Zealand, says the initiative is a good one.
“It’s a great opportunity to reward the businesses that support our communities. Without these businesses we would not
have fire, ambulance, civil defence and search and rescue folk ready to drop what they are doing and respond immediately
in our times of need. These businesses deserve our support in recognition of how they support us.”
VollyPages membership is by subscription, with member fees used to cover administration and marketing. Directory
members must be able to provide current ID for the staff member(s) that volunteer. Businesses that subscribe before the
end of October 2015 can take advantage of an introductory offer of 30 percent discount on the first year’s subscription.
VollyPages is also looking for sponsorship or support to run the directory. “We’d love to have a “Friends of
VollyPages” group to help keep the costs of running the directory down,” says Paul. “We want to be able use social media
and online marketing to help grow our listed businesses, at minimal cost to them,” says Paul.
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